The second part followed the Khalidi family’s role in assembling the collection, establishing the Library and ensuring its continuity. Their involvement in Jerusalem’s legal, intellectual and civic life provided a broader context for understanding how the Library came into being. Photographs, documents and personal papers connected individual lives to the political, social and cultural history of Palestine. Particular attention was given to the women whose contributions helped make the Library possible and sustain it, including the support of Haj Ragheb’s mother, who dedicated income from the nearby Hammam Al Ayn baths to its upkeep. These histories also challenged familiar representations of Palestine as a place lacking an active intellectual life.

The third part situated the Library within Bab Al Silsileh, the street and neighborhood surrounding it. Its schools, historic residences, tombs and proximity to the Haram Al Sharif place the Library within a dense network of religious, educational and social relationships. The film explored this setting, connecting the neighborhood’s architecture and history with the Khalidi family’s longstanding presence there. It extended the exhibition beyond the Library’s walls, allowing the surrounding street to become part of the story.

Conservation was also central to the project’s conception. The care of manuscripts and rare books connects the knowledge contained in the collection with the practical work required to carry it forward. The Library’s bookbinding workshop offered a way to make that relationship tangible: preservation depends on materials, skills and the continued attention of people.

Knowledge, Place … and Time grew out of my interest in how archives allow us to read a place through the lives and histories accumulated within it. At the Khalidi Library, the collection, the family and the neighborhood are inseparable. Together, they tell a history of learning in Jerusalem and of the sustained effort required to keep that history present and accessible.